An Assessment of the Performance and Resilience of Primary Cooperative Banks During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic which started in early 2020 negatively impacted the socioeconomic environment due to the widespread incidence of the disease and lockdowns that were necessitated to contain its spread. The pandemic has lasted for more than two years with multiple peaks and troughs having an impact on all economic activities and banking services were no exception. The primary cooperative banking segment appears to have reasonably sustained the impact of the COVID-19 stress. As the incidence of the pandemic gradually recedes, this study examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the performance of Primary (Urban) Cooperative Banks (UCBs) and tests their resilience. Based on a well-distributed purposive sample of 50 UCBs which broadly mimics the universe of the study and has a representation from all four tiers of the UCB sector, it tests statistically significant differences in the key financial parameters before and during the pandemic (pre-pandemic years: 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, and pandemic years: 2020-21, 2021-22) and examines changes in the assets, liabilities, earnings, and profitability of UCBs. It finds that UCBs have shown resilience in their financial performance notwithstanding the external shock caused by the pandemic, and statistically significant Covid-induced differences are not observed in most of their financial parameters